This prize came about from my BA Degree Show at Wimbledon College of Art. From the degree show four artists including myself were chosen to submit proposals for the ORBIS Art Prize. This involved a 2.05m x 4.8m wall in the staff room of Orbis Investment Management Ltd located in Wimbledon Bridge House. The brief was open to whatever we wished to do. However it had to be new work for the space, in keeping with our current art practice, H&S [such as maximum relief 40mm] and that it would be something exciting for the staff when using the space. We were also to provide a detailed costing as the materials budget was £1000 + VAT. It was a commissioning prize, so after a year I would get the work back.

 

My proposal was thirteen of my tessellations arranged like 'bubbles'. They would all be different sizes and arranged all over the wall, all encompassing. They would all be completely different patterns all with different fabric, colours and arrangements. I had also included samples of materials - thick paint, artex and fabric - in the proposal so to give the client an idea when reading my proposal.

 

Once finding out I had won the prize I had seven weeks to make the work. This was also part of the proposal as I provided a time scale detailing what would be done and when. This meant that the last day of term is when I had till, as it was that day that the work would be installed by The White Wall Company. The work was completed on time, even though I wished for a day as breather, and installed on 11th December 2015.

 

The skills involved with this project were documentation, curation, time management and hard graft.

 

For me this project highlighted a few things for me a practicing artist. 1. Even with a detailed time scale I still diverted from the plan. This was to make it easier and quicker [or so thought]. It meant that I worked on groups of work at the same time instead of doing each section on every board at  the same time. This lead to me working on the large boards last which I found I should have done first, or interspersed large and small boards with one another. 2. Thirteen boards in seven weeks are tough especially when they range from 150mm to 1.05m. Thirteen boards are what I would make in an academic year. I was not willing to compromise on quality so sleep was put to the wayside. 3. It is wonderful having someone else install your work. I did give them a detailed wall map of where everything was to go with all the measurements. But that was all, it took the weight off, especially as I was thinking of the worst case scenario that the boards would not fit on the wall or be too cramped. 4. Finally it also gave me something to think about when hanging my work. I was going under the assumption that my work could hang from the square frame baton on the back of the work. Yet because of it being a public space the installers had to use d-rings and hooks to make it secure and safe.